


Knowledge Freely Shared

by luckthebard (wbh)



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Friendship, Gen, Learning how to friendship, could be read as, episode tag: episode 124, essek/caleb
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-28
Updated: 2021-02-28
Packaged: 2021-03-12 09:47:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,230
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29757762
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wbh/pseuds/luckthebard
Summary: In which I realize Caleb wasn’t present when the group said goodbye to Dagen, and take full advantage of that.
Comments: 6
Kudos: 99





	Knowledge Freely Shared

**Author's Note:**

> Caleb now knows the spell "Gravity Sinkhole." Here is my off-screen idea of how that happened.

While the rest of the Mighty Nein bid farewell to Dagen, Caleb begged off, telling them he still had some preparation to handle for their departure to Nicodranas. That was not a lie, but he was still grateful that no one asked him to elaborate.

It was easy to find Essek’s office again. He nearly hesitated before knocking, but the presence of a Kryn soldier at the door put him enough on his guard to resist showing any uncertainty. His sharp rap was answered instantly, with an impatient “Come!” in Essek’s sharp tones. The drow’s face did not match his voice when Caleb opened the door to reveal himself, Essek showing the briefest expression of surprise and shame before hastily looking away.

Caleb decided to ignore the look and press on with his business as professionally as possible. “May I trouble you for just another short moment?”

“Yes, yes, come in,” Essek replied, waving Caleb inside and closing the door behind him with a sharp gesture. “Is there a new development?”

“Not so much, no,” Caleb hastened to reassure him. “In fact, we were just about to take our leave, per your request.” 

Essek’s face was unreadable at that. Caleb could not tell if he was disappointed or relieved to hear of the Nein’s immediate departure. Perhaps he did not know himself. 

“Ah, well then, I wish you well in your efforts to acquire more support. And I will be ready to assist upon your return.” Essek’s expression hardened a little, and he finally looked at Caleb directly. “But I sense you would not have returned in person just to tell me that.”

Always so perceptive. “No…” Caleb began, now feeling slightly foolish and unsure how to phrase his request. “But we may run into trouble if we search for aid in some of the corners my friends have been discussing, and I wondered if perhaps…well, I have seen you do immensely powerful things in defense of yourself, and wondered if I might acquire some of your aid in advance.”

Essek was quiet for a moment, and while Caleb knew he had talked around the point spectacularly, he was sure it wasn’t because Essek did not understand what he meant. 

“Of course, of course.” He said finally. “I do owe you a great deal.” Essek made a complicated gesture, and his spellbook appeared in his hand. “What are you interested in learning?”

Caleb, to Essek’s evident surprise, shook his head and did not approach. “I do not want you to teach me because you owe me. I would like to move past favors. The Nein have been...attempting to show me that friendship need not rest on transactions. Perhaps we could both benefit from no longer seeing ours that way.”

Essek looked thoughtful. “Well…” he said slowly, “what if I would _like_ to teach you something new?”

He opened his spellbook and flipped through to a page toward the back. When Essek turned the book so Caleb could read it easily, Caleb finally approached Essek’s desk and sat down opposite him. As he looked over the lines and glyphs of what seemed to be a very complicated Dunamancy spell, Caleb’s keen wizard mind began to make sense of what he was seeing. Powerful indeed, all of the strength of gravity and density at his command. 

“You would not need any rare or difficult to obtain components for this,” Essek explained, as Caleb continued to study the spell. “And based on your concerns, it seems like it may be well-suited to your purposes.”

“I’ve seen this before,” Caleb said, sudden realization dawning. He looked up at Essek. “You crushed that Scourger in the cells.”

“Well,” Essek began, shifting uncomfortably. “She _did_ stab you.”

Caleb was quiet for a moment. There were so many walls between them now. He found he missed their easy companionship, as unreachable and foreign as it now seemed. Studying magic with Essek had been so freeing and easy, but was now a tangled and complicated web, like so many other parts of his life. No easy answers for Caleb Widogast.

“Why did you decide to teach me Dunamancy, that first day?” Caleb asked. He could tell by Essek’s expression that was not the question he had expected Caleb to ask. And perhaps he would one day ask for more information about the captured Scourger, but Caleb allowed himself the weakness of avoiding that at the moment. When Essek did not respond, Caleb pressed. “Surely I was not worth that kind of a risk, when you first met me.” 

Essek swallowed. “I was selfish in pursuit of my goals, I know that,” he said slowly, as if discovering his answer even while speaking to Caleb. “But if there’s one impulse of mine in all of this I do not regret, it’s sharing knowledge. The consequences of my actions are mine to bear, but I still think hoarding ideas...stifles understanding.” Essek glanced around, as if to be sure he and Caleb really were alone in his Silence-protected office. “The Dynasty resists studying the Beacons because they reject any challenge to their current understanding. I still do not think it was wrong, inherently, to want to know more. But that also blinded me to...larger considerations.” Essek paused, as if unsure if he should continue. When Caleb did not interject, he concluded, “You also seemed like a curious mind, and one unaffiliated with political concerns, and I wanted…” he trailed off, and Caleb wasn’t sure if it was because he did not want to give voice to his feelings or if he still did not understand them.

Essek cleared his throat and took his spellbook back, clearly attempting to move on. “I’m sure you do not have time to copy this now, so here.” He carefully removed the spell from his book - not tearing or damaging it in any way, but somehow creating a perfectly in-tact page in his hand that could function as a scroll. Caleb would have to ask him some day how he did that. “It is called ‘Gravity Sinkhole,’ if you must work translations to have it function in your style.” Essek handed the spell over to Caleb.

Caleb took it delicately, both surprised and unsurprised to have powerful Dunamancy handed to him from this enigmatic man so freely. “I will return this,” he said earnestly, trying to catch Essek’s eyes to show his sincerity. 

“I am counting on it.” Essek finally met Caleb’s gaze without hesitation, and his lips quirked up in a small smile. “So you better get back here in one piece, or I will be very disappointed.”

Caleb took his leave quickly after that, and was well into drawing the Teleportation Circle to Nicodranas by the time the rest of the Mighty Nein returned from their final visit to Dagen. He did not say anything about his conversation with Essek, though he knew perhaps he should. He didn’t want to share his feelings in that direction while they were still so unclear, and, if he was honest with himself, still felt adrift at sea when it came to his old and untrustworthy friend. But maybe, just maybe, they had started to build a raft. After all, he thought, briefly touching the scroll stored safely in his pack, the pursuit of knowledge freely shared seemed like a good place to start.


End file.
